Women´s economic empowerment is critical to resilient recovery efforts of the Western Balkans 

Sarajevo/Tirana – Instead of happy 8th of March, the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) is announcing the launching of the Western Balkans (WB) Regional Network of Women in Entrepreneurship, at an event taking place this Friday (11 March) in Tirana. The Launch will gather a number of businesswomen from the entire region, and also serve as an opportunity to recognise WB Women Entrepreneurs of the Year 2021.

Exactly three years ago on this date the Regional Cooperation Council launched the campaign aimed at Empowering Women in Entrepreneurship (WE) in the Western Balkans. WE started with a video of Nada Markovic, a pioneer of the first female cooperative in Bosnia and Hercegovina. And, as promised then, we continued everywhere in the region and showed stories of many inspiring women in entrepreneurship of our region, Arijana, Iris, Marta, Blerta, Zoja, Daklea, Uta, Klodiana and Irena; followed by the regional activities of our organisation to initiate the processes of empowering women in business, especially young ones. Creation of the Regional Network of Women in Entrepreneurship is one of concrete activities in this regard. 

Women´s economic empowerment is critical to resilient recovery efforts of the Western Balkans. Only half of women in the Western Balkans are economically active, compared to 70% of men. Women employment rate in our region is 41.6% while that of men is 59.7%. Unemployment rate of young women is at 39%. Proportion of women in senior and middle management positions in the region ranges from 17.4% to 41.3%, and only 15.3% of firms in the Western Balkans have top female manager. On average, only 1 in every 5 firms in the WB is owned or co-owned by women. If women would be more involved in business, our region’s GDP could have a 5% increase. The bigger economic growth of our region is deeply connected with the bigger number of women in labour market. 

The key to unlocking the potential of this region are women. Connecting women to support each other is a good step in that regard. The key objective of the Western Balkans Regional Network of Women in Entrepreneurship is to enhance partnerships of women economic empowerment, spark the debate on creating an inclusive environment and address challenges and needs of diverse women entrepreneurs across our region and across key Common Regional Market value chains. 

Join us on 11 March in Tirana LIVE on RCC YouTube and Facebook channels, starting at 10.00. 

Opening remarks are to be delivered by:

• Majlinda Bregu, Secretary General of Regional Cooperation Council
• Maciej Popowski, Acting Director General of DG NEAR
• Helga Maria Schmid, Secretary General of OSCE
• Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, Assistant Secretary General of UN, Assistant Administrator of UNDP and director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS

Our panelists this Friday include:

• Dr. Marija Risteska, Regional Director of Gender Budget Watchdog Network
• Sonila Abdalli, Co-Founder of Destil Creative Hub
• Amra Hasimbegovic, Director and owner of GMS Consulting agency
• Zana Tabaku, CEO of Appdec
• Arijana Mulic, Co-founder of Ma Cherie and Navale restaurants
• Vesna Miceva Todorovska, Owner and General Manager of Congress Service Center
• Svetlana Ćopić, Co-Founder of Komleko
• Maja Nadeždić, Co-Founder of Komleko

Panel will be moderated by Vjosa Berisha, co-owner and chief executive of B2 production company.

More info of Women Empowerment activities of the RCC at https://www.rcc.int/priority_areas/52/women-empowerment

More info on the WB Women Entrepreneurs of the Year 2021
More info on WE  – Women Empowerment

Klodiana Ajazi, Director of Inovess Construction and Management and Novus Marketing and Advertising and co-founder of WOMEN'S ECONOMIC CHAMBER: (6) #WE meet: Klodiana - (6) #WE meet: Klodiana - YouTube 

Blerta Basholli, Director of Hive: (6) #WE meet: Blerta - (6) #WE: Meet Daklea - YouTube

Deklea Xinxo, founder of Shtepia e Zoterinjve nursing home: (6) #WE: Meet Daklea - (6) Women empowerment: Meet Arijana Mulic, co-founder and owner of two businesses in Montenegro - YouTube 

Arijana Mulic, Co-founder of Ma Cherie and Navale restaurants: https://www.youtube.com/supported_browsers?next_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DhUfM2CNUOu0 

Zoja Kukic, Co-founder of Startit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-01N-MkHYQ 

Marta Naumovska Grnarova, owner and General Manager of Zavar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-p5skB40AQ 

Uta Ibrahimi, founder of Butterfly Outdoor Adventure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0vSpUz8JP8 

Iris Gjinovci, founder of SchoolMe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB9K2-A9-tM 

Nada Markovic, founder of the first female cooperative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScM_bXdjtwM